The Speares

Living the life in Gravenhurst

Holland September-October 2018

 

With the sale of the old family farm in Overijsel Deb's family decided to have a get-together and give everyone a last chance to see the homestead before the new owners renovated.

Cousin Ria said she and Jan would put us up if we could catch a train to Coevorden from Schiphol. Luckily there are ticket people in Schiphol who can help you in English so getting to Coevorden was no problem, although we forgot swipe our cards as we changed lines in Zwolle. A helpful train guy came over and helped us out with that.

September 20 Emlichheim

 

 

Ria and Jan live just over the border in Germany in a cute little town called Emlichheim. We got there very tired from the journey - I hate travelling East.

September 21 Emmen Market and a Walk

 

The next day our hosts took us to Emmen to a large market where we got some excellent cheese and some funky tights that look like blue jeans. Then we went for a walk around the German countryside.

Emmen Market More Market Countryside around Emlichheim

 

September 22 Family Reunion

 

This was the big day, when the Lamberink clan got together to catch up and say farewell to the old homestead.

Family Reunion More Family The old homestead

 

September 23 Off to Dronten

 

Cousin Nanny was nice enough to let us stay with her for a few days so back on the train. It turns out we were supposed to switch trains from intercity to local at some point so we went sailing right past Dronten. We tried to not swipe out at the next stop because we didn't really have a ticket for Zwolle but got locked in some gates so had to. Luckily it appears the train people have anticipated tourists missing their stop so the card worked and we got the next local train back to Dronten. September 24 Walk around Dronten and de Orchideeén Hoeve

Canal Marina Walking about

 

Dronten is a pretty town and Nanny took us along on her morning walk. After lunch we went to this amazing Orchid place : kind of a rain forest in a greenhouse.

Stopping for a boat Sea level The greenhouse
Had Flowers And fish And turtles
And trees And more turtles And more trees
And bigger fish And monkeys And danger
And birds And butterflies And Deb

 

September 25 Vlieland

 

The Wadden Sea is to the north of Holland, and has some barrier islands dotted about. We went to Vlieland, which is pretty much just a giant shifting sand dune in the middle of the sea. Only the inhabitants are allowed to have cars, and there are few inhabitants, so bicycling is a reasonably safe adventure. We stayed at the Westcord Hotel, very charming.

On the ferry Walking to the hotel View from the balcony

 

Our hotel came with a bicycle rental, so we picked those up and then bicycled over to the Vliehors Express, a big dune-buggy thing that drives you over to the end of the island you can't get to any other way. Nato was up to something the whole time we were there, so we were treated to fighters dropping flare bombs and helicopters flying overhead.

Our bicycles A beach restaurant Writing in the sand
Under the beach restaurant Beach Buggy A seal
The Mascot A monument made of flotsam and jetsom A hill! In Holland!

 

September 26 Bicycle around Vlieland You can bicycle around most of the island in a day. So we did.

Biking to the Posthuys for lunch the Posthuys Nato wargames
On the way to a waterfowl preserve The preserve, viewed through a blind More of the preserve
Birds galore Biking back to the dunes Geese
The dune trail Beach Access Back down to the trail
No swimming Near the fire tower Baah

 

September 27 Dini and Jan

 

I wasn't on this trip as I was taking a sick day.

September 28 Zwolle

 

Herman and Grita had us over for the day so we hopped on the train and headed there.

Herman and Grita Canal Too much food everywhere

 

September 29 Elburg

 

Elburg is a really old walled town that is interesting to walk around. Not exactly a museum though - the shops are all trendy and the cafes are a good place to get a fancy lunch.

The Marina Street Cafe The original dyke
Canal The old wall The old church

 

September 30 Van Gogh, Flowers and Supper

 

Today we said goodbye to Nanny and took the train to Amsterdam to visit Trudi. We did the van Gogh museum and then a flower market enroute. We topped off the day with a ferry ride across the water to a very odd restaurant made out of shipping containers. Just past Sexy Land. You can't miss it.

A car apparently Flowers etc. Like it says
Very high-end food But an odd building

 

September 31

 

We spent the day just poking around Amsterdam, getting lost, eating at really great places and then getting lost some more. Trudi was at work. At night she took us to a great pizza place where they took their pizza very seriously indeed. This was the last day of our Holland adventure and the next day was awful getting to Schiphol and then to Denmark and then to our boat, but eventually we were off on our next adventure.